Product/Service

XFdtd® Electrostatic Solver for Touchscreen Capacitance Computation

Capacitive sensors measure changes in capacitance to detect differences in their environment. They are commonly used as touchscreens to detect the location of fingers or a stylus on the screens of smart phones, tablets, computer screens, music players, and computer touch pads, though many other uses exist in scientific research and industry. Remcom’s XFdtd EM Simulation Software can compute the capacitance of complex sensor designs, allowing the designer to choose the best geometry for their needs without prototyping.

The electrostatic solver in XF can compute the matrix of self- and mutual-capacitance between any number of conductors in the geometry. The geometry can be created within XF or imported from any supported CAD file formats and may be of almost any arbitrary shape and complexity. Simulations can consist of the touchscreen assembly only or may be as complex as the complete device (mobile phone, tablet, etc.) and/or fingers or a stylus, in order to evaluate the installed performance of the sensors. If desired, the transient solver in XF can compute charge and discharge cycles by adding the appropriate components and switching to the touchscreen assembly.